Accreditation: An Imperative Necessity

RA is a Must
This fact will never go away.

These are good points that must be considered, especially if one wants their degree to be recognized by potential employers, by many government bodies (municipal, county and Federal) and by other regional institutions of higher learning.

People often boast that the military recognizes degrees that are not regionally accredited. However, I challenge you to try and receive a commission using an unaccredited degree!

 

People boasting that the military recognizes degrees that are not regionally accredited is by no means the same as saying they accept unaccredited degree. Your inference that without RA you automatically are left with the equivalent of unaccredited is not correct.

I understand your reasonable point that accreditation is vital. However, there is legitimate US accreditation that is recognized by many employers and, according to the study done by John and Rich, accepted by aprox 45% of RA institutions.

So, yes, RA is extremely important in making a selection. But non RA does not necessarily mean accredited. FWIW, I do not advocate anyone choosing an unnacredtied option. But there are viable accredited opitons that are not RA.

 

I HATE THAT WE CANNOT EDIT OUR POSTS AFTER SUBMITTING! YES, I KNOW I'M YELLING.

 

While I certainly agree with what you are saying, you are discussing two distinct and separate issues. The military does, in fact, recognize non-RA degrees in that they will provide tuition assistance and update military records for those pursuing DETC-accredited degrees. Because DETC is recognized at the federal level by the Department of Education, there isn't much choice.

The process of commissioning is laden with much subjectivity. In the Air Force, a board of at least three Colonels reviews all commissioning applications. They have the unquestioned right and authority to disapprove an application based on academic background if they so wish.

 

ROFLOL -- I AGREE 100%!!!!

(I was able to sift through your long posting because you responded to me -- but others would not be able to make sense of your posting. -- If you simply had the ability to edit your postings, you could have cleaned it up with a couple of key strokes).

 

I agree that it might be good advice for those who are new to higher education to stick to regionally accredited schools. But seeing as how everyone on this newsgroup except myself seems to be either a doctor or a doctoral student, I think that degreeinfo can handle the subtleties and nuances. So I'm going to suggest that there may be a great many fine non-RA alternatives as well.

First of all, the military does accept non-RA but DoEd-recognized schools, at least for some purposes. In fact, the military actually operates a number of them:
http://www.detc.org/content/Fed_Mil.html

Second, the US Dept. of Education recognizes specialized programmatic accreditors as being institutional accreditors when they are accrediting specialized colleges. The National Association of Schools of Art and Design is the DoEd recognized specialized accreditor for studio art. Besides accrediting hundreds of art departments within larger RA colleges and universities, it accredits dozens of stand-alone art schools that aren't RA. San Francisco's Academy of Art College is a prominent example. I'm sure that their MFAs have admirably met the needs of many artists.

Thirdly, some of the non-RA schools are actually prestigious. This is especially true in vocational rather than academic fields. Another example from San Francisco is the well known California Culinary Academy. While it isn't RA, it is accredited by the DoEd recognized ACCSCT, an accreditor of vocational colleges. California Culinary Academy graduates are in demand, working as chefs in prominent restaurants throughout California.

Fourth, there is the obvious fact that distance education makes the entire world's higher education offerings available across national boundaries. Regional accreditation, as important as it is, is largely restricted to the United States. Other countries have other systems. The University of London isn't RA, but it is credible nevertheless.

Lastly, and perhaps most controversially, I won't even dismiss all of the CA-approved schools. A lot depends on what a student's purpose is in wanting to study in the first place.

I am 53 years old and am interested in studying for my own enlightenment, not for vocational reasons. That means that I am more interested in the intellectual experience than in the credential. One CA-approved school that I kind of like is Dharma Realm Buddhist University.
http://www.drba.org/index.htm

While they aren't RA, they seem reasonably credible to me. One of my old SF State Professors, Ron Epstein, has taught there as well as at SF State since DRBU's inception. He's a Ph.D, in Buddhist Studies from UC Berkeley, and it would be worth studying at DRBU just to study with him. DRBU is associated with the Buddhist Text Translation Society and the Institute for World Religions in Berkeley.

So sure, a degree from this place may not be fully accepted in academia. But as a place to study both Chinese Cha'an Buddhist teachings and practice, it may have few peers in California.

 

I'm very much an RA person, but I do think that DETC schools fill a niche, and can be useful. For instance, the FBI recently changed their entry requirements for the Special Agent position. It used to require a RA degree, but now they specify RA or national accreditation approved by the DoEd, which would include DETC. I don't know when the change occurred, but when I checked last year, it was RA-only.
http://www.fbi.gov/employment/agent2.htm


Bruce

 

Bruce, the FBI might have decided to follow the policy as noted by the Federal Office of Personnel Management which states any accreditation that is DoEd approved.

 

That could be, but if so it was a voluntary thing. Certain Federal law enforcement jobs (FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service, etc.) hire on their own outside OPM. Others do use OPM, such as the Border Patrol & US Marshals.


Bruce

 

I would like to have the ability to do a spell check before submitting...

 

I sometimes write my messages using aword processor so I can edit, then I paste into this forum.

 

{Quote}
That could be, but if so it was a voluntary thing. Certain Federal law enforcement jobs (FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service, etc.) hire on their own outside OPM. Others do use OPM, such as the Border Patrol & US Marshals.

Although Federal Agencies often contract out Human Resources and Personnel Managers they must be in compliance with the OPM Guidlines. The OPM maintains oversite on all personnel acquisitions. www.opm.gov

The USDoE approved schools are the rule and the FBI had no choice...by the way I work for the Dept. of Justice and conduct program reviews.

 

Kudos to the FBI for quickly becoming progressive. As recently as last year a 4 year RA resident degree was required.

AED article

Pete

 

FBI's educational requirement: